Return to SelectTool after tool usage?

[evancloutier]

I've started using the beta a bit more and the main difference in UX that I've noticed is the persistence of tooling after a session or interaction has occurred.

In V1, the select tool is always resorted back to after a session completes (ie. drawing a shape!). In V2, said shape tool will instead persist to let more shapes be created. This may be a desired behaviour in V2, but I figured it is worth calling out as I think it is a major UX difference and requires some unlearning.

[judicaelandria]

Hey! yeah this has been asked many times on v1, perhaps that why it is implemented on v2 :)

[steveruizok]

Yeah, still considering a last minute change back to the behavior on v1. But we're leaving it like that for the moment.

[matlin]

I also prefer V1 behavior but, as a compromise, it would be nice to have ESC key map to the select tool when another tool is selected. Excalidraw and Figma both use that pattern.

[alex-kim-dev]

I personally like Excalidraw's approach with the option to select the desired behavior:

[judicaelandria]

I personally like Excalidraw's approach with the option to select the desired behavior:

we can actually do that with v1, double click the menu to lock it perhaps we can implement the same behavior

[alex-kim-dev]

double click the menu to lock it

Cool! Is there a way to do it using keyboard?

[TodePond]

There has been some more interest in this, eg: tldraw/tldraw#1272

And from the discord:

[TodePond]

We're experimenting with some changes to this at the moment!

Thanks for all the feedback on this! There are even more people asking for it, eg: tldraw/tldraw#1269

[steveruizok]

Here's a preview PR where I've implemented this. Does it feel right to you? https://tldraw-lite-git-return-to-select-tldraw.vercel.app/

[judicaelandria]

hey @steveruizok can we add this to our preferences? because they're some people(including me) who want to keep the previously selected option

[TodePond]

Hey all, I've closed some related issues related to this - tldraw/tldraw#1284, tldraw/tldraw#1269

There are some different options here that we're currently exploring!

[TodePond]

We're trying out some changes on https://beta.tldraw.com Let us know how it goes, and what you think! :)

[judicaelandria]

that should do it! but the lock icon is too small 😅

[nielsbom]

I just learned about the lock feature, looks good, and yes a bit small.

I think doing a double-click (as v1 apparently had) to temporarily put the lock on just the tool you clicked has a good flow too. I do wonder about the accessibility of double-clicking. A short search did not give any negative indicators, but I'm no expert.

I can imagine how some people would always want the global-lock on and others would always want it off. So maybe this should be something in the preferences instead of in the panel-UI. But I'm just one user so 🤷

[TodePond]

Thanks for adding your thoughts on this @nielsbom! We also have the 'tool lock' option in the preferences menu, but it's not very clear that it's linked, and you're right about the lock button being quite small!

[TodePond]

As this is now the default behaviour, I'll close this issue now. This could be revisited again in the future though!